It’s official: President Donald Trump is looking towards the future — a third term.
Yes, a third term, directly defying the Constitution and deliberately testing the limits of American democracy. But the real threat isn’t just this violation of precedent — it’s the way his provocations have become part of a larger strategy. In the wake of countless executive orders, shifting norms and daily political upheaval, Americans are left feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and cynical. And that’s exactly the point.
Trump doesn’t just push boundaries — he floods the public with so much chaos that outrage becomes the norm, and civic focus collapses. He wants us to be distracted. He wants us reactive. He wants us too tired to see the game he’s playing. Because the more we focus on the shock, the less energy we have to protect the systems that actually matter.
With every outrageous suggestion, Trump stirs just enough chaos to get exactly what he wants: our attention, our outrage and ultimately, our exhaustion. This is not random. It is an orchestrated spectacle designed to wear us down. This is his playbook.
Trump thrives on disruption. When he floats unconstitutional ideas like abolishing term limits, he knows they’re extreme. Extremism is the point. Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat states in her book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present that authoritarian leaders rely on chaos, personal loyalty and a distrust of expertise to consolidate power. They disrupt, divide and disorient, weaponizing public uncertainty to tighten their grip. This is what Trump is doing. And the more we react, the more he is able to gain control.
This isn’t hypothetical. In 2018, egregious Trump strategist Steve Bannon said the quiet part out loud: “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” Journalist Jonathan Rauch says that this strategy is “not about persuasion: This is about disorientation.” The goal is simple: confuse the public, paralyze the press and collapse democratic resistance. And so far, it’s working — not just on Trump’s base, but on everyone trapped in the cycle of rage and reaction.
We’ve marched. We’ve protested. We’ve debated. But relentless outrage, anxiety and despair have not empowered the American public — they’ve exhausted us. Many now feel “frustrated, disgruntled and disengaged.” Research confirms that the repeated exposure to political attack — especially on social media — fuels cynicism. That cynicism can push people away from democratic participation or toward fringe parties. Either way, democracy loses. And that’s exactly the goal.
So, what’s the alternative? Stop reacting. Start rebuilding. It’s not that outrage is unwarranted — it’s that it can’t become the endpoint. We need to go from reaction to strategy. From chaos to civic renewal. From despair to intention. From doom scrolling to deliberate action.
Term limits are one of the most important guardrails of democracy. They didn’t always exist — in fact, Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist No. 72 that allowing re-election could incentivize presidents to govern with the people’s best interests and think long-term. But history intervened and revealed the danger of indefinite executive power. After Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented four terms during World War II, the Twenty- Second Amendment enshrined term limits — not to punish ambition, but to prevent the consolidation of unchecked executive power. These limits now serve to maintain and preserve accountability, ensure peaceful transitions of power and reinforce democratic legitimacy. Weakening them — or even joking about doing so — is not harmless. It is a direct assault on the institutional pillars that uphold American democracy.
So, I call on journalists to refuse to play Trump’s game. We cannot allow ourselves to become pawns in a distraction campaign designed to exhaust us. Instead, let us re-center the conversation on what we do stand for: rule of law, transparency, civic participation and a government that serves the people — not one man’s ego. This is not disengagement. It’s intentional resistance. Rebuilding trust. Voting. Educating. Organizing. Reforming. Choosing discipline over drama, substance over spectacle. These actions may not generate headlines, but they generate lasting power. They build a democracy rooted not in fear or reaction but in hope, action and unwavering civic resolve. Trump wants us outraged. But what he truly fears is a country too grounded, too focused and too united to fall for his chaos.